After finally stringing back-to-back wins together for the first time in more than a calendar year, the 3-5 Bucs will face a tall task this Sunday night as they look to extend their winning streak to three games in a primetime matchup with the 6-2 Bears at Chicago’s Soldier Field.

Tampa Bay has found an identity on the offensive side of the ball in recent weeks, having rushed for 241 yards in a Week 5 win over Dallas, 258 in a Week 7 domination of Carolina and a franchise-record 324 in last week’s shutout victory over Atlanta.

Chicago is a different kind of test, though, as this is a team that has won three straight — with the last two coming in primetime against the two teams that met in Super Bowl XLIX back in February.

Speaking of primetime, the Bucs return to a spot in the weekly football calendar that hasn’t been kind to them for quite some time. While Todd Bowles and Co. are 1-0 in primetime this season — thanks to that Thursday Night Football win over the Cowboys in Week 5 — they haven’t won on Sunday Night Football since Christmas Day 2022.

The Bucs are 9-17 all-time on Sunday Night Football and have lost three of their four Sunday night regular season games under Bowles, with another loss in the playoffs.

Despite all of that, this Buccaneer team has a big opportunity in front of it at Soldier Field in Week 9. A win makes three straight, keeps them right in the mix for the NFC South title, proves they can beat a true NFC contender in a tough environment and sends them into their bye week riding high at 4-5 after a 1-5 start. Wouldn’t that be something?

Before we dive deeper into this game Friday morning, here’s a general preview of this Sunday night’s primetime matchup in the Windy City:

The Last Time…

These two teams last met at Raymond James Stadium in Week 2 of the 2023 season, prior to the start of the Caleb Williams era in Chicago. Tampa Bay took a 13-10 lead just before halftime on a Chase McLaughlin field goal and never looked back.

A 32-yard touchdown pass from Baker Mayfield to Mike Evans made it a 20-10 game, and even after Justin Fields and Chase Claypool connected for a touchdown to make it 20-17 with 6:17 left in the fourth quarter, the Bucs put the game away with a Shaq Barrett pick-six at the 2:03 mark. That made for one of the more emotional moments in Bucs history and capped off a 2-0 start to that season.

Bucs OLB Shaq Barrett – Photo by: USA Today

Tampa Bay won the turnover battle 2-0 that day and dominated in time of possession, holding the ball for 35:56 to Chicago’s 24:04.

The Bears have a 40-22 advantage over the Bucs in the all-time series between the former NFC Central foes, with a 26-9 mark in games played in Chicago. However, Tampa Bay has won the last two meetings and four of the last six.

How The Bucs And Bears Are Trending

For the first time all year, the Bucs are trending in the right direction on both sides of the football. The defense has continued to play at a high level and has even ramped things up over where it was early on this season when it was playing well enough to win, but not playing completely out of its mind. As of late, a switch has flipped.

The Buccaneer defense racked up five sacks and a takeaway in a Week 6 loss to the Steelers, then totaled five sacks and three takeaways in a win the following week against the Panthers. Despite not racking up any sacks in last week’s win over the Panthers, they did intercept Michael Penix Jr. four times and held the Falcons to an 0-for-12 mark on third downs.

Bucs CBs Jacob Parrish and Keionte Scott – Photo by: IMAGN Images via Reuters Connect

The Bucs lead the NFL in interceptions with 12 and takeaways with 16, led by the reigning NFC Defensive Player of the Week Alex Anzalone and his team-high three interceptions. Anzalone’s running mate, rookie Josiah Trotter, continues to play outstanding football in his debut season, too, as he leads the Bucs in tackles by a large margin. His 68 tackles are 25 more than the next guy, Tykee Smith, who is playing at a Pro Bowl level himself. And all of that is without mentioning the play of both Zyon McCollum and Jacob Parrish, who are on pace to be in the conversation for Pro Bowl and even All-Pro honors.

As for the Tampa Bay offense, there’s quite a spectrum of results for its different facets. The passing game ranks dead last in the league and while it was circumstantial due to the rainy conditions in Week 8, Baker Mayfield and the Bucs just became the first team to win a game without completing a pass since 1974. Mayfield has attempted only 14 passes since his return from injury, and his thumb will continue to be a question as the rest of the season rolls on. Whether Zac Robinson‘s offense can muster up enough through the air to lead this team to a victory is another question that will persist until we see it happen.

Lately, though, the Bucs haven’t needed a potent passing game. Instead, they’ve been able to lean on the run. They now have the NFL’s top-ranked rushing attack, and it’s led by Bucky Irving and his 728 rushing yards and five touchdowns. While the pace he’s on may not be sustainable over the remaining nine games, he’s currently on track to break the franchise’s single-season rushing record, which has belonged to James Wilder Sr. since 1984. The fact that Kenny Gainwell has really taken off in the last two weeks only helps the offense’s new bully ball identity.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield and RB Bucky Irving – Photo by: IMAGN Images via Reuters Connect

Of course, Irving and Gainwell are only part of the reason why Tampa Bay has been able to forge this identity for itself over the last month or so. The offensive line is a huge part of it, too, as this is a unit that is exceptionally talented and playing with a ton of confidence right now. Sunday will present a tough test with Chicago’s formidable front, led by the newly acquired Jeffery Simmons, but you can bet these Buccaneer bruisers are going to be ready to rise to the occasion.

As for the Bears, there may not be a hotter — or better??? — team in the league right now. Yes, the 49ers, Vikings and Bills are all 6-1 and the Broncos are right there at 6-2 themselves, but this 6-2 Bears team has been on an impressive run since quarterback Caleb Williams returned from an early-season injury. They got out to a hot start with a 59-37 win over the Panthers in Week 1 before Williams went down in a Week 2 loss to the Vikings, and then Case Keenum and Tyson Bagent actually did a solid job of keeping the team afloat in his absence.

Keenum led the Bears to a Week 3 win over the Eagles and Bagent guided them to a Week 4 win over the Jets to get to 3-1 before an embarrassing 31-7 loss to the rival Packers in Week 5. Williams returned in Week 6, though, and Chicago has been on quite the run since. The Bears beat the Falcons, 31-23, on the road in his return, then beat the defending AFC champion Patriots, 30-24, on Thursday Night Football in Week 7. Most recently, Chicago is coming off a 34-17 Monday night win over the defending Super Bowl champions in Seattle.

Bears QB Caleb Williams – Photo by IMAGN Images via Reuters Connect

Williams has completed 70.9% of his passes thus far in 2026 for 1,267 yards and six touchdowns to just one interception, and the ground game has been effective as well. D’Andre Swift has 545 yards and 10 touchdowns already, while Kyle Monangai has 324 yards and three touchdowns of his own. Ben Johnson’s offense is averaging 26.8 points per game and has scored 30+ points in three straight contests.

Defensively, the Bears have really been solid so far in 2026. They’re giving up only 20 points per game, which ranks eighth in the league, and their 11 takeaways are tied for the fifth-most in the NFL as well. As far as pass rush, Chicago is getting contributions from all over. Cornerback Kyler Gordon and defensive end Austin Booker are tied for the team lead in sacks with four apiece, while Dayo Odeyingbo and Montez Sweat have three each. As a unit, the Bears have 22 sacks and 43 tackles for loss over eight games.

Five different Chicago defenders have an interception this season, with safety Dillon Thieneman, linebackers T.J. Edwards and D’Marco Jackson, cornerback Malik Muhammad II and defensive tackle James Lynch with one each. Meanwhile, Gordon and Booker have two forced fumbles apiece, while cornerback Jaylon Johnson has another.

Bears DT Jeffrey Simmons – Photo by IMAGN Images via Reuters Connect

There was already plenty of talent on the Bears defense, and then general manager Ryan Poles sent two first-round picks and a fourth-rounder to the Titans for stud defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, who had a sack, two tackles for loss and a pass defense in his debut for Chicago this past Monday night. Poles, Johnson and the Bears are gearing up to make a run at glory, and this Sunday, they’ll be looking at the Bucs as just another stop along the way to bigger things in the NFC North and the NFC as a whole.

Here’s how the two teams stack up with the rest of the league leading into Week 9:

Bucs Offense: 20th in scoring offense (22.3 PPG), 25th in total offense (300.0 yards per game), 32nd in passing offense (131.4 yards per game), 1st in rushing offense (168.6 yards per game)

Bears Offense: 8th in scoring offense (26.8 PPG), 3rd in total offense (387.3 yards per game), 13th in passing offense (236.5 yards per game), 2nd in rushing offense (150.8 yards per game)

Bucs Defense: 5th in scoring defense (23.0 points allowed per game), 3rd in total defense (285.9 yards allowed per game), 9th in passing defense (205.9 yards allowed per game), 2nd in run defense (80.0 yards allowed per game)

Bears Defense: 8th in scoring defense (20.0 points allowed per game), 7th in total defense (305.8 yards allowed per game), 14th in passing defense (219.0 yards allowed per game), 4th in run defense (86.8 yards allowed per game)

As of Wednesday night, the Bears are 6-point home favorites over the Bucs, with the Over/Under set at 47.5 (per Hard Rock Bet).

Bucs at Bears Game Information

When: Sunday, November 8
Where: Soldier Field (Chicago, IL)
Kickoff: 8:20 p.m. ET
TV: NBC – Mike Tirico (Play by Play), Cris Collinsworth (Analyst), Melissa Stark (Reporter)
Bucs Radio: 98Rock – Tony Castricone (Play by Play), Dave Moore (Color), Jay Recher (Reporter)
Spanish Radio: 96.1 Caliente – Martín Gramática, Santiago Gramática